The UPSC examination stands for the Union Public Service Commission examination. This is regarded as one of the most difficult examinations due to its huge curriculum as well as tough competition. But, since nothing is impossible in this crazy world, you can accomplish this impossible mission and turn it into success.

The UPSC examination is conducted in three stages. All the steps involve the elimination of ineligible candidates who fail to get the UPSC cut off marks.

The three basic stages you have to face to clear the UPSC examination include:

• Preliminary examination
• Main examination
• Interview

The preliminary examination is the primary elimination process of eliminating ineligible candidates off who are unable to meet the UPSC cut off marks in prelims. The candidates who clear this round proceed for the main examination.

The same rule goes for the main examination too. Candidates having the potentiality for meeting up the cut off marks are selected for the last and final step of the whole procedure: interview.

The interview is all about facing the board members from the Union Public Service Commission in person and a personality test of the candidate is conducted by them.

So, the importance of the UPSC cut off marks can be seen here since it upholds your fate in clearing the UPSC examination. But the cut off marks vary from year to year and it is impossible to predict the exact UPSC cut off marks each year. Since there are no fixed cut off marks, some may see it as unnecessary and frivolous. But the fact is that if you have a rough estimation of cut off marks, you will be able to set a goal. While appearing for the mock tests, you will have a clear concept about your preparation by considering your score whether it is close to the probable cut off marks or not. It will surely brush up your confidence level if the marks are closer to the cut off marks. And if not, you will get the opportunity to rectify your performance to do better.

Since there is no fixed UPSC cut off marks, an overview of past years’ record can give you an idea about how much the range can vary. So, the following section describes the cut off marks record over the past few years.

UPSC CUT OFF 2018

The preliminary examination is conducted over the two papers named as general studies I and CSAT test. The UPSC cut off marks were announced based on the general studies-I and the aptitude test paper require a minimum of 33% to be cleared.

UPSC prelims cut off 2018

Category of the candidates	Vacancy as per report	Recommendation of PwBD Candidates	Vacancy after the recommendation of PwBD candidates	Recommendation of candidates (Non-PwBD)	Minimum qualifying standards* [CS(P)] Out of 200)
General	414	28	386	333	98.00
OBC	209	05	204	204	96.66
SC	128	02	126	126	84.00
ST	61	01	60	60	83.34
Total	812	36	776	723

UPSC CUT OFF 2017

Examination	General candidates	OBC candidates	SC candidates	ST candidates	PH-1	PH-2	PH-3
Civil Services(Prelims)	105.34	102.66	88.66	88.66	85.34	61.34	40.00
Civil Services (Mains)	809	770	756	749	734	745	578
Civil Services (Final exam)	1006	968	944	939	923	948	830

UPSC CUT OFF 2016

Examination	General candidates	OBC candidates	SC candidates	ST candidates	PH-1	PH-2	PH-3
Civil Services (Pre)	116.00	110.66	99.34	96.00	75.34	72.66	40.00
Civil Services (Mains)	787	745	739	730	713	740	545
Civil Services (Final Exam)	988	951	937	920	927	951	817

UPSC CUT OFF 2015

Examination	General candidates	OBC candidates	SC candidates	ST candidates	PH-1	PH-2	PH-3
Civil services (Pre)	107.34	106.00	94.00	91.34	90.66	76.66	40.00
Civil services (Main)	676	630	622	617	580	627	504
Civil services (Final) (including interview)	877	834	810	801	802	830	697

UPSC CUT OFF 2014

Examination	General candidates	OBC candidates	SC candidates	ST candidates	PH-1	PH-2	PH-3	Maximum Marks
Civil Services (Pre)	205	204	182	174	167	113	115	385
Civil Services (Mains)	678	631	631	619	609	575	449	1750
Civil Services (Final) (including interview)	889	844	830	811	816	778	713	2025

The papers included in the preliminary examination of UPSC CSE examination are:

• Paper I: Indian national movement and art and culture, Polity, economic and social development of India, Geography, current affairs etc.
• Paper-II: mathematics, reasoning, numerical problems, analytical ability, comprehension etc.

The papers included in the main examinations are:

• Paper A: language test of 300 marks (any Indian modern language of choice)
• Paper B: English test of 300 marks
• Paper I: essay writing in the language of the candidate’s choice carrying 250 marks
• Paper-II: general studies regarding Indian and world history, geography, culture and heritage, social issues (250 marks)
• Paper III: Indian constitution and international relationship, social justice (250 marks)
• Paper IV: Economics, internal security environment study, disaster management, science & technology (250 marks)
• Paper V: ethics, integrity, and aptitude (250 marks)
• Paper VI: optional subject Paper I (250 marks)
• Paper VII: optional subject Paper-II (250 marks)

And, the final round of the UPSC examination includes an interview. Here, mainly the personality of the candidate is tested. Questions are asked to test mental alertness, leadership ability, moral uprightness, etc. (275 marks)

So, this can be seen that without a smart study plan and well-planned timetable this is quite impossible to reach out to the cut off marks to fulfill the aim of clearing the UPSC examination. Your aim should be scoring much higher than the probable UPSC cut off marks so that it can bring you the confidence to achieve the goal.

Clearing UPSC examination is a big deal because this gives you the privilege to work for prestigious services including Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS) etc. And who does not know that good things require hard work and effort to get achieved? So, this is high time for gearing up for the upcoming UPSC examination and focusing on your dream.